Our dark sky – a red zone dark-sky park

Nature doesn’t stop when the sun goes down, it just gets more cosmic.

How wonderful it will be to lie down in a forest park clearing under a starlit sky, and see the whole vault of the heavens, the Magellanic Clouds and count shooting stars. Or to admire the Milky Way and the numerous gaseous nebulae and star clusters.

Professor John Hearnshaw explains how many stars we could see above an Avon River red zone dark sky park

The universe can be very inspiring, beautiful and educational. But right now, in most Western cities, it’s barely visible. The Red Zone Dark Sky Park committee of Greening the Red Zone has formed to create a real point of difference for Christchurch – an urban dark sky park.